Why You Should Spend Time With Yourself

I don’t know about you, yet for the past ten years, I have been immersed in an empowering habit of spending time with myself. You will notice that I wrote spend time with myself and not spend time alone and this is for a specific reason: I strongly believe that the time we spend alone is not the same as the time we spend with ourselves. We are never alone when we are in the company of ourselves.

When I spend time with myself, I get a chance to experience the same feelings, emotions and satisfaction that I would when I spend time with a friend. For example, I would have lunch with myself, talk to myself and enjoy myself’s company. After this time, I will be rejuvenated, motivated and I would leave more appreciative of myself.

This might not be very convincing, so here are some reasons explaining why it’s important to spend time with yourself:

You will get a chance to check-in with yourself, see where you are in your life, where you would like to be and plan your way forward

You will get a chance to assess your yearly, monthly and daily goals

Needless to say, if you do not have goals, then this is a perfect time to set your goals for the coming years then break them down into months then days (for more information about goal setting, please check my blog post “Tips to Setting Achievable New Year Resolution“

You will get a chance to appreciate yourself, look back at your achievements, your hard work, count your blessings, etc.

You will get a chance to better plan your next move depending on where you are in your life development

You will learn to appreciate the company of others (or stop seeing some people) depending on your own reflection of yourself and your outlook on life.

You will get a chance to write in your journal and reflect on your thoughts, actions, interactions, etc.

Depending on your preference, you can start by spending time with yourself daily or even weekly. I personally recommend that you spend time with yourself at least once a week, then gradually increase this time to suit your needs and preference.

At first scheduling such time can be hard, here are some simple techniques that will help you achieve that goal:

You need to decide that you want to schedule some time with yourself due to its many benefits. If you are not 100% convinced that this is something important for you to do and that you MUST do it (I am saying must since if you say should, you will not do it) then whatever techniques I recommend will never work for you. Therefore, your decision to spend time with yourself is key here.

You can decide to wake up half an hour earlier for your “Me Time”. You can decide to wake up one day a week, two days a week or even daily. No matter how little you sleep, just pick a day, wake up early and spend time with yourself.

You can schedule an afternoon or evening appointment with yourself. Same as you would schedule a dentist appointment or any other appointment, schedule an appointment with yourself at any timeframe of your liking, whether it’s daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.

After deciding on the frequency and timeframe, just add it to your calendar. If you decide to take an appointment with yourself once a month, then schedule that appointment for the coming year on your digital or physical calendar.

Stick to your appointment. Let’s say you decide to wake up early every Tuesday every week. If one Monday night, you sleep late, then don’t think that you can ditch your “Me time” and sleep in. Same as you wouldn’t miss a meeting with your boss, you should not miss a meeting with yourself. Your appointment should be sacred.

Now tell me, have you already scheduled some time with yourself?!

If not, what are you waiting for?!

All it takes is a decision that will help you lead a better life and become the person you have always wanted to be!